The Apartments in law.

On October 11, 2017Ministry on Housing and Building submitted a draft law concerning regulation of the Russian apartments* market. The same provisions of Housing Code will be applied to the apartments as well as to the residential premises. The draft introduces the term of “the apartment” and “the multi-purpose building” and specifies the aspects, regulating the establishment of accommodation and utility payments. The legal draft also prescribes the way to transfer non-residential premises to the apartments. The owners of non-residential premises in the buildings put into operation before January 01, 2019, are entitled to transfer such premises to residential before December 31, 2021. At the moment this draft law is on the public hearings stage. Its adoption would help to solve the most topical issues:

- the problem of permanent residence registration in the apartments;- reduction of utility costs (the utility rates for the residential premises are prescribed by the state level, while tariffs for the - non-residential premises are set by the suppliers for each managing company on the individual basis) ;- reduction of taxes (the tax rates that is used for the residential premises will be applied);- applicability of the law of silence (for example, the right to call the police if neighbors are making noise at night time) - compliance with state sanitary and technical rules and regulations (insolation, sound insulation, ventilation and etc.)

* The Apartments in RF - are non- residential premises, which are not a part of residential areas but have necessary living conditions. They are usually located in administrative buildings, buildings with hotel status and in new buildings, where the developer didn’t want or was unable to obtain a permit for residential construction.